I Wandered Lonely Worksheet

“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by William Wordsworth (p. 533)
Part A. Define the following literary terms.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

rhythm (p. 530) meter (p. 530) iamb (p. 531) foot (p. 531) scanning (p. 531) tetrameter: a poetic line that contains four feet

Part B. Pre-reading: Read “William Wordsworth” on page 534. Answer the following questions in complete sentences. 1. What did Wordsworth believe was the best teacher?
2. What did Wordsworth and his friend Coleridge use as subjects for their poetry?
3. According to Wordsworth, when does poetry “begin”?
4. Who was Dorothy, and what did she and Wordsworth do together?
Part C. Pre-reading: “I Never Saw Daffodils So Beautiful” by Dorothy Wordsworth on page 535. Answer the following questions in complete sentences.
1. Who do you think the “we “represents in this journal account?
2. When did this experience occur?
3. What do Dorothy and the others see?
4. What happens to them at the end of the journal entry?
Part D. Read and paraphrase the poem on the worksheet provided. Use the glossary below to help you understand the poem.
Part E. Thinking Critically. Answer these questions in complete sentences.
1. What is the speaker’s mood in stanza 1?
2. What does he see “all at once”?
3. How does the speaker’s mood change that day because of what he sees?
4. How does the memory of what he saw affect him later?
5. List at least two phrases in the poem that personify the daffodils, making them seem friendly. Reread
Dorothy Wordsworth’s journal on p. 535 and list at least two phrases that also personify the flowers.
6. How would you explain the “inward eye” in the last stanza?
Part F. Rhyme and Rhythm.
1. On the poem worksheet, chart the rhyme scheme of the poem.
2. Do a scansion (charting the meter) of the poem.
a. Copy the scansion of the first stanza from the board. How many feet are in each line?
b. Scan the second stanza together with the class. What is the pattern used in each foot?
c. With a partner, scan the third stanza.
d.